Taking On Goliathtag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-5034402007-02-03T14:03:00-05:00This blog is all about my first book.TypePadThe Conquering Lifetag:typepad.com,2003:post-144265152007-02-03T14:03:00-05:002007-02-03T14:03:00-05:00When I started talking with the pastor of our church about the book I wanted to write, he asked me if there were any Bible characters that exhibited the characteristics I wanted to teach about. My immediate response was: David in the story of his battle with Goliath.
He went to the blackboard, grabbed a piece of chalk, and said, "OK, what are the characteristics and how do they fit into the story?" We spent the next twenty to thirty minutes putting together a list of nine different characteristics, all of which started with 'C'.Rob Marshall

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

When I started talking with the pastor of our church about the book I wanted to write, he asked me if there were any Bible characters that exhibited the characteristics I wanted to teach about. My immediate response was: David in the story of his battle with Goliath.

He went to the blackboard, grabbed a piece of chalk, and said, "OK, what are the characteristics and how do they fit into the story?" We spent the next twenty to thirty minutes putting together a list of nine different characteristics, all of which started with 'C'.

But it felt like we needed to add one more, something that tied it all together and showed that David's life wasn't just about his battle with Goliath. We thought about the conquering life. Not that David lived a completely victorious life after his battle with Goliath, but he did continue to trust in God and even when he made mistakes, he always came back to God.

When we look at our lives we recognize that we will always have struggles and trials of different kinds. There is no standing still in life because we're either moving forward or we're falling behind.

Like David, we will have times when we make mistakes, even major ones, and we need to know how to deal with them. What does God expect from us and how do we continue to keep moving toward our dreams after those mistakes?

There were times when David's mistakes were very costly, even causing people to lose their lives. We can't underestimate the seriousness of David's sins, or ours. But we also shouldn't forget about God's mercy and forgiveness.

Some years ago our fourth son was born premature at 26 weeks. Unlike our second son who survived, Jonathan died two days after birth. For many years I had felt that he had died because of my sin. As I talked with our pastor about it and explained how I felt that God was punishing me, he just looked across the table at me and said, "What, isn't Christ's death on the cross good enough for you?"

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I had been trying to punish myself because I was struggling with accepting the free gift of God's grace and mercy. God had already forgiven me, but I kept going down the path of my own wretchedness. I felt unworthy and unlovable, but God loved me anyway. And as unworthy as I may have felt, I realized that it wasn't about me, but about God. God was the one who had made me worthy.

David beat Goliath because he had learned that God was strong enough to help him conquer any problem. Throughout his life he learned that God was not only strong enough to help him overcome the obstacles he faced, but God was loving enough to help him get past his own faults and failures.

Have you ever felt that you weren't good enough? Or that God didn't love you?

The simple message of David's life, and one that I've experienced, is that God does love us. He wants the absolute best for us. In Ephesians 3:17b-19 Paul writes, "that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

The assurance that God will do great things in our lives comes from knowing just how much He loves us. The one thing that I wish for you above all else, is that you would receive the greatest of gifts, the gift of knowing God's love.

I trust that these lessons have helped you gain new insights into how to unleash the David in your life. For further information and on-going support for your faith, please go to:

I hope that you will join us as we grow in faith and reach the dreams that God has given us.

Celebration - Rejoicing in Achievementtag:typepad.com,2003:post-144264142007-01-27T13:59:00-05:002007-01-27T13:59:00-05:00In week two we talked about writing "Thank-You" in big letters on a 3x5 card and taping it to your alarm clock. Learning to be thankful is one of the most important steps that we can take toward living in abundance.
Recognizing that everything comes from God helps us to keep things in perspective. Not just that we learn to be thankful for all that we have, but we also remember that there is an unlimited supply. If we gripe and complain about what we don't have, we affirm the belief that there isn't enough and that God can't supply our needs. But that simply isn't true.Rob Marshall

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

In week two we talked about writing "Thank-You" in big letters on a 3x5 card and taping it to your alarm clock. Learning to be thankful is one of the most important steps that we can take toward living in abundance.

Recognizing that everything comes from God helps us to keep things in perspective. Not just that we learn to be thankful for all that we have, but we also remember that there is an unlimited supply. If we gripe and complain about what we don't have, we affirm the belief that there isn't enough and that God can't supply our needs. But that simply isn't true.

There is an abundance in the world that we can't even fathom. Take some time and look at the world around you. If there's a forest near you, take a walk through it. If you're in a city, just go to a busy place like a train station and look at the people instead.

In the forest no two trees are exactly alike. Even if they are the same type of trees, like oak or pine trees, you'll notice that each one is a unique creation. It's the same with people, no two are alike. Even something as simple as snowflakes are all unique.

The Bible tells us that the things that have been created tell us something about God. When you see that everything is a unique creation, something new and different, what does that tell you about God?

It says that God loves to create. He loves it so much that He does it all day, every day, in a million different ways. From trees to people to snowflakes, God is constantly creating more and more. God has created so much that it seems almost superfluous. After all, why make every tree unique? What purpose does it serve?

It does one thing, it communicates the message loud and clear that God is a God of abundance, even super-abundance. That we don't have to worry about whether or not God can provide for us. All of His Creation tells us that he provides much more than we need.

When we begin to be thankful for the abundance that is around us, we remind ourselves that God is not only the Creator of the universe, He is also a joyful and loving Creator in our lives. He is ready and willing to give us more, but He wants us to recognize where it all comes from and we do that by appreciating all that He has already given us.

How do you feel about paying your bills? Do you hate writing those checks and sending off your hard earned cash? Do you mutter, maybe even curse, under your breath when you think about everything getting more and more expensive?

Starting today, every time you pay a bill write "thank-you" on the check along with the account or invoice number. You read that right. When you pay your bills, say thank-you.

When paying our bills, there are several things for which we can be thankful. The first is: being thankful for what we received. For example, when you pay your electricity bill, be thankful that you have electricity to light your home, power your computer, and run your hair dryer.

Be thankful too for the income that you were able to create. Through your labor, whether at your job or business, you provide a service and God blesses you by giving you the income to pay your bills.

Plus, you can be thankful for God's provision in your life. God has already provided all that you need.

By replacing the habit of complaining about what we don't yet have, to being thankful that we have all we need and want, we begin to change our beliefs about God. We begin to agree with Him that He has provided all we need. We go from thinking about what we lack, to being thankful for all that we have.

In Chapter nine I talk about being thankful in advance, being thankful because we believe in God's blessings even if we aren't holding them in our hands. When we believe in His blessings, ask for them in faith, and thank Him now, our faith begins to work for us.

Courage - Facing Our Fearstag:typepad.com,2003:post-144263272007-01-20T13:51:00-05:002007-01-20T13:51:00-05:00Someone once said that the person who can keep his head when everyone else is losing theirs, probably doesn't appreciate the seriousness of the situation.
I was recently asked if I had the opportunity to invite three of my heroes to a dinner party, who would I invite? I thought about it for a moment and realized that one of the people I would invite would be David. I'd love to ask him what was really going through his mind that day as he ran out to face Goliath.
Rob Marshall

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

Someone once said that the person who can keep his head when everyone else is losing theirs, probably doesn't appreciate the seriousness of the situation.

I was recently asked if I had the opportunity to invite three of my heroes to a dinner party, who would I invite? I thought about it for a moment and realized that one of the people I would invite would be David. I'd love to ask him what was really going through his mind that day as he ran out to face Goliath.

It's easy to imagine that David was fearless that day. That his confidence in God was so great that he never had a second thought. That his vision of Goliath lying dead on the ground was so clear and his faith so strong that the idea of failing never even entered his mind.

But it's also possible to imagine that David had to deal with the same fears that you and I would have had if we were to face a giant who wanted to kill us. That rather than being a fearless hero, he was just someone like you and me who had to silence the negative voices in his head. That he battled the same insecurities and doubts that we face, but with one significant difference, he had learned to trust God.

Have you ever held your hand out of the window of your car as it was moving down the highway at 55 or 65 miles an hour? By holding your hand in certain positions it can either float up or down on the air, or you end up fighting against the wind.

The amount that you tilt your hand is called the"angle of attack." The force of the air flowing over, under, around, and into your hand creates both lift and drag.

When you hold your hand so that your palm is facing forward and your thumb is toward the sky, the drag becomes so great that the wind pushes your hand backwards and you have to fight with all your might against the wind. You won't be able to hold your hand like that for long because it takes too much energy to fight the wind.

Even when you just hold your hand flat, the palm facing toward the ground, you feel the wind push against it and you have to struggle to keep your hand level because of the drag caused by the wind hitting the leading edge (usually the thumb) of your hand.

But when you slightly change the angle of attack, your hand will either rise or fall depending on which way you tilt it. There is still some drag against the leading edge of your hand, but the lift caused by the wind will cause your hand to float, or seem to fly, through the air.

Our emotions can be like the wind rushing around our hand when we stick it out the window of our car. Our fears act like the drag on our hands, because they always push us back. But faith works like lift in that it can pick us up and help us float, or fly, and reach higher levels of accomplishment.

When we try to take on too much at one time, it's like holding our hands out of the window with our palms facing forward. Because the angle of attack is too steep, the force of the wind, the drag of our fears, becomes too great for us to handle. Because we can't keep fighting against wind, or our fears, we give up. In life we try to just go back to what seems easiest, simply maintaining the same level in our lives and holding onto a flat and unfulfilling existence.

In order for us to let our faith take over, we need to keep a clear vision in front of us. As the vision causes us to move forward and upward in our lives, we take it step by step and day by day. By not trying to take on too much too quickly, we gradually rise the same way that our hands float on the wind when we tilt them upward.

Our emotions create both drag and lift in our lives. There will always be some drag. In other words there will always be some fear that we have to fight against. But by allowing our faith to take over, we can feel like we almost cancel out the fear. The fear is still there, but it's not controlling our lives.

During the upcoming week, take the time to get a clear picture of what it is that you want to accomplish in your life. The clearer your vision the better. In this picutre, see yourself as already having and enjoying the things you desire.

But don't look at your vision as something that you have to accomplish in one huge leap. Instead see it as a lot of little steps that you need to take one after another.

By attacking your goal bit by bit, you keep the "angle of attack" such that your faith can lift you up more than your fears can drag you down.

Commitment - Making Decisionstag:typepad.com,2003:post-144262882007-01-13T13:48:00-05:002007-01-13T13:48:00-05:00There is an old saying that goes: "Ignorance is bliss." What it's supposed to mean is that if you don't know what's going on you'll be happier. And in some cases, that may be right. As an example, take the story of George Dantzig from Cynthia Kersey's book "Unstoppable."
Rob Marshall

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

There is an old saying that goes: "Ignorance is bliss." What it's supposed to mean is that if you don't know what's going on you'll be happier. And in some cases, that may be right. As an example, take the story of George Dantzig from Cynthia Kersey's book "Unstoppable."

George was a graduate student in mathematics at the University of California. One morning he overslept and came to his class twenty minutes late. He quickly wrote down the two math problems his professor had put on the board because he assumed that they were the homework assignment.

He spent several days working on the problems because they turned out to be very challenging. But he did finally solve them both and put them on his professors desk, amidst a bunch of other papers, after apologizing for taking so long to finish the assignment.

Six weeks later, at 8am on a Sunday morning, his professor came banging on his door. It seems that, because George had been late to class, he had missed the part of the lecture when his professor had explained that the two problems on the board were not the homework assignment, but that they were two famous unsolved problems in statistics. The professor was very excited because George had solved both of them.

What was the secret to George's success? He didn't know that the problems had never been solved. He was able to succeed where others had failed simply because he believed that he could.

A question that is often asked is: What would you dare to do if you knew that you couldn't fail? What do you think? What would you dare to do if your success was guaranteed?

One of the biggest tests we face when we step out in faith is the test of our commitment. We may find it easy to make the initial decision, but when we encounter problems and difficulties, weoften give up.

How is your staying power? Have you ever felt that you must have made a mistake because things didn't go as easily as you thought? Have you ever given up when the road to your dreams seemed to be too rocky, too steep, or just plain too long?

When we think about our dreams we have to answer the question: Can we make the commitment to reach our dream? We need to be willing to pursue our dream until we reach it and to start taking steps toward our dream today. Time is running out for all of us, we can't afford to waste it.

The first part of Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no revelation (or vision), the people cast off restraint."

The Hebrew word that is translated as restraint means to show a lack of restraint, or to let loose. It's the opposite of commitment because commitment means that we are constrained or focused on what we want. With no vision and no commitment our lives have no direction and we won't accomplish much of anything.

But restraint and commitment apply to the vision and not to the means by which the vision will be accomplished. Not that the ends justify the means, but that we don't get so locked into one particular way of reaching our goal that we miss out on opportunities that God brings our way.

I'm reminded of the story about man sitting in the lobby of a hotel and watching a fly. The fly was desperately trying to get outside, but it kept banging into the window over and over again. It was determined, but misguided, because there was an open door a few feet away from the window. The problem was that the fly only knew about the window.

Last week I talked about creativity and using our imaginations, and that we often have to concentrate on something for a long time but that our reward will be insights and ideas that can help us reach our goals. When we commit to the dream or vision we want to accomplish and allow God to show us the best way to reach them, we'll experience success.

Faith is all about commitment. It's deciding what we want, deciding to trust God for it, and then deciding to keep taking steps toward our dreams until, with God's help, we reach them. Commitment is based on the belief that we can and will succeed. And as we face problems along the road to our dreams, like George Dantzig, when we believe that we can solve the problems, we will.

Creativity - Using Our Imaginationtag:typepad.com,2003:post-144262282007-01-06T13:43:00-05:002007-01-06T13:43:00-05:00My wife and I like watching the Discovery Network's Science Channel. Some of programs show the inventions that people have come up with that range from vaccines to skateboards. We especially like inventions that are useful and simple. For example the invention that can be built into city roads that will actually generate electricity as traffic rolls over it.
Rob Marshall

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

My wife and I like watching the Discovery Network's Science Channel. Some of programs show the inventions that people have come up with that range from vaccines to skateboards. We especially like inventions that are useful and simple. For example the invention that can be built into city roads that will actually generate electricity as traffic rolls over it.

On one of the shows they interviewed Michael Dyson who invented the appropriately named Dyson vacuum cleaner. If you've ever seen the commercials you may remember that he talks about wanting to invent a vacuum cleaner that never loses suction.

During the interview Dyson mentioned that he tried more than 10,000 different prototypes over a period of fourteen years until he finally came up with the one that solved the problem.

Most of us aren't trying to invent a revolutionary vacuum cleaner but we all struggle with knowing how we are going to create the life we want.

The first problem that we need to solve is knowing what we want to do in life. I talked about this in week one of this coaching course. Have you taken the time to ask yourself the important question: What do I want to do in life?

While we hope that God will write the answer in big neon flashing letters across the sky, that's usually not how we find out. The way in which God reveals that to us is by having us take a simple look at the things we are good at doing and that we enjoy.

But once we've come up with what it is that we want to do, we then face the next problem: How do we make a living doing what we want to do? Is that the question that is stopping you from pursuing your dreams? It's the one that stops most people because they make the assumption that it's impossible to do what they really want and still be able to pay the bills.

On a recent show we saw an invention that allowed businesses to save money on their electricity costs. A couple of engineers had been working for some time on the problem of how to dim flourescent lights. They had tried everything they could think of but they were no closer to solving the problem.

Then one night one of them had a dream. He got in to work the next morning and implemented what he had seen in his dream. The problem was fixed!!!

They were able to significantly reduce the amount of energy that flourescent bulbs use and to dim them. The only problem was, they didn't know how it worked. It worked just fine, but it took them another four years of examining what they had done to figure out why it worked.

I've often thought that it would be great if God would just give me a dream that would solve all my problems. But when I look at how most inventors come up with their ideas I realize that as simple as that sounds, it really wasn't that easy for any of them.

In all cases these inventors had an intense desire to solve a specific problem. All of them had spent months and years learning all they could about the problem they wanted to solve. And they had tried one thing after another, some of them even trying thousands of things that didn't work, all the time never losing hope that they would eventually find a solution.

How strong is your desire to spend your life doing what you love to do? Are you willing to invest the time and energy to find a way to make a living doing it? Or does it sound easier to just give up and stick with a job that you hate, that doesn't use your skills, and that barely pays the bills?

These aren't easy questions but we need to ask them.

When my wife and I took a serious look at what it would take for me to do what I love and become a full-time writer and speaker, we started off with a list of pros and cons. We simply took a piece of paper for each of my possible career choices. We then put a line down the middle of each one and labeled one side pros and the other cons.

We talked about and listed everything we could think of for each of my choices. The paper for being a full-time author and speaker had the most cons, but also the most pros. We knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but when we looked at it we knew that in spite of the difficulties we would face, there was no real choice, I had to try.

In Proverbs we read that wisdom is crying out and saying, "I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full." (Proverbs 8:17-21 NIV)

The wisdom we need and the solutions for how to do what we love are waiting for us if we're willing to seek them with all of our hearts. It may not be easy, it may not happen overnight, but the one thing we know is that God wants us to succeed. He will make sure that we find the answers if we will be sure to seek them.

While seeking be sure to ask yourself the right questions. Questions like: "Why can't I seem to get ahead?" are the wrong ones to ask. Instead we should always ask ourselves questions that help us find the answers that will change our lives. Questions like: "How do I create the income I want doing what I love?" But don't be surprised if the answer is a bit out of the ordinary, after all, God is a Creator so He's very creative.

Confidence - Learning to Trusttag:typepad.com,2003:post-144261742006-12-30T13:39:00-05:002006-12-30T13:39:00-05:00If you planted an acorn in the ground today, how big would your oak tree be tomorrow? If you went out and didn't see the oak tree, would you dig up the acorn and take a look at it to see if it had done anything? And if the acorn hadn't changed, would you assume that the acorn must be broken, throw it away, grab another one and plant it?
Would you then go out the next day and see how big your oak tree was? And if nothing had happened, would you again dig up the acorn, see that nothing had happened, assume that it was broken, throw it away and plant yet another acorn?
Rob Marshall

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

If you planted an acorn in the ground today, how big would your oak tree be tomorrow? If you went out and didn't see the oak tree, would you dig up the acorn and take a look at it to see if it had done anything? And if the acorn hadn't changed, would you assume that the acorn must be broken, throw it away, grab another one and plant it?

Would you then go out the next day and see how big your oak tree was? And if nothing had happened, would you again dig up the acorn, see that nothing had happened, assume that it was broken, throw it away and plant yet another acorn?

You're probably thinking, "No, I wouldn't do that. That's pretty ridiculous because everybody knows that it takes a long time for an oak tree to grow." Right, we all know that. But, for some reason, when it comes to our faith we have a very different response.

We tend to assume that having faith means that things happen for us immediately. We forget that having faith is really all about planting seeds. When we pray our prayer "seeds" are planted and we need to have patience in order for them to grow. Just because we don't see rapid changes doesn't mean that nothing is happening, it's broken, and we should throw it away, and go try something else.

Last week I talked about having to go to a lawyer because our second son was born three months premature and we were facing a hospital bill that could have gone as high as $300,00 with no health insurance. When I felt that God was going to help us overcome the problem and pay the bill, my hope was that it would be taken care of immediately. I really didn't want to have to wait because everyday that the bill went unpaid raised more and more concerns. My faith wavered and faltered for months as we went through the process of finding another lawyer, taking depositions, and waiting to see if we would have to go to court.

There are many times when we pray for something, when we feel that we need God to answer us or else, and nothing seems to happen. We often look at our prayers like the acorn. We assume that they must be broken, throw them away, and keep trying new things. So what's the result? The result is that we get frustrated, discouraged, and begin to think that God doesn't love us. But the truth is that God does love us. His love never fails....

The problem isn't God, it's us.

We often lack the patience to wait for our prayer "seeds" to take root, grow, and bear fruit. Have you ever felt like God is ignoring your prayers? Or that perhaps there was something wrong with you because your prayers seemed to be unanswered? The first chapter of James tells us that God wants us to add patience to our faith. The result will be that we will be mature and lack nothing. If we have lack in our lives, there's a good chance that we still need to add patience to our faith. But having patience doesn't mean becoming passive.

If a farmer planted his seeds in the spring he would realize that it wasn't just a matter of sitting on his front porch all summer and waiting for the harvest in fall. He knows that he will have to work all summer to make sure that the seeds got enough water and fertilizer, and that as the plants began to grow, they would need to be protected from weeds and insects. It's a lot like that when we pray.

Starting in verse five of Luke 11 Jesus tells a parable about a man who goes to a friend of his at midnight. He has gone to his friend to ask for bread because a guest has arrived unexpectedly and he doesn't have any food. The friend refuses to get out of bed, but the man continues to knock on the door and ask for the bread. In verse 8 Jesus says, "I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs."

As we continue to read in Luke 11, we come to verses 9-10 where Jesus says, "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

Jesus is telling us that even if it seems like God isn't answering our prayers, we need to be persistent and patient. If we continue to trust in God He will answer.

When it comes to our faith we can learn a lot from farmers. Like a farmer who plants and tends to his crop until it's harvested, we should continue in prayer and patient expectation, knowing that our prayers will be answered. As we do that our patience and our faith will become strong and unshakable and we will no longer lack anything.

Confrontation - Handling Criticismtag:typepad.com,2003:post-144261112006-12-23T13:34:00-05:002006-12-23T13:34:00-05:00I felt uncomfortable as I sat in the lawyer's waiting room. I didn't like the idea of being there but I didn't know what else to do. The company I had worked for had gone bankrupt and my health insurance had gotten cancelled right before our second son was born. He had been born at 27 weeks, three months premature, and the doctor had warned us that the hospital bills would be over $300,000.
So there I was, unhappily sitting in the waiting room of a lawyer who specialized in bankruptcies. I was hoping he would help me force the insurance company to pay the hospital bill, a bill I had no hope of paying any other way...or so I thought.Rob Marshall

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

I felt uncomfortable as I sat in the lawyer's waiting room. I didn't like the idea of being there but I didn't know what else to do. The company I had worked for had gone bankrupt and my health insurance had gotten cancelled right before our second son was born. He had been born at 27 weeks, three months premature, and the doctor had warned us that the hospital bills would be over $300,000.

So there I was, unhappily sitting in the waiting room of a lawyer who specialized in bankruptcies. I was hoping he would help me force the insurance company to pay the hospital bill, a bill I had no hope of paying any other way...or so I thought.

But as I sat there God reminded me of the story of Jehoshaphat. In 2 Chronicles 20 we read that Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah when a great army came against them. As they sought God for help in defeating this huge army, God told them that He would give them the victory and that they were not to worry because they wouldn't even have to fight.

As Jehoshaphat and his army went out to battle the next morning they put the singers in front of the soldiers. The Bible says that as the singers began to sing, God caused the invading army to start fighting amongst themselves.

By the time Jehoshaphat and his army arrived, the entire invading army was dead. God had fulfilled his promise that they would be the victors and in a battle that they would not even have to fight!

As they began going through the enemy camp they found an incredible amount of treasure. They spent the next three days gathering up all the treasure and taking it back to Judah. God had not only removed the threat, but He had turned a problem into a blessing!

So here I was in the lawyer's office remembering God's great promise...As I talked with the lawyer that morning he told me to save up $400 so that I could file for bankruptcy as soon as my son got released from the hospital. But thinking about Jehoshaphat gave me the courage to ignore his advice. I decided to keep looking for a lawyer who would help me.

When we start going after our dreams we will find that there is an endless supply of people who will tell us what we can't do, why it can't be done, and what we should be doing instead. Most of the advice we get will be well-intentioned but less than helpful.

When David announced that he was going to kill Goliath the first problem he ran into was his older brother who reminded him that he was just a lowly shepherd and that it was his pride that had brought him the battle that day. Later when David talked to the king, he was reminded that he was just a kid and that he had no hope of defeating Goliath.

It was clear that David's brother was just angry and probably a little embarrassed. After all he had been listening to Goliath's challenge for forty days and had never volunteered to fight him. How embarrassing it must have been for him to think that his little brother could defeat the giant.

When we face confrontation and criticism, like David did, it's easy to get discouraged. We forget that many times people want to convince us that we can't reach our dreams because they have spent a lifetime convincing themselves that their own dreams are out of reach.

Has the fear of rejection been keeping you from pursuing your dreams? Are you worried about what other people may think of you?

As common as this fear may be, most of us never realize that people aren't really rejecting us at all. Sales trainer Jeffrey Gitomer says, "People will try to rain on your parade because they have no parade of their own."

If the people you spend all your time with are always "raining on your parade," then it may be time to start hanging out with a different crowd. Mark Twain once said, "Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great."

If you simply cannot get away from those critics, allow the criticisms you receive help you. Ask yourself if there is something of value that you can learn from what the other person is saying. Resist the temptation to feel hurt and instead look at their comments as advice and learn from them.

When the king told David that he was just a kid and that Goliath had been a warrior ever since he was young, David realized that he would need to find some other way to defeat Goliath. Rather than being discouraged, he gained some valuable information and it ended up helping him win the fight.

Like David, when we learn from what others say to us, we gain valuable advice and reach our goals even sooner.

By the way . . . I did find a lawyer who was willing to help me get our son's hospital bills paid. The insurance company settled out of court, all of the bills got paid, we didn't have to pay a penny (not even a deductible) and the lawyer earned $70,000. I wonder what the bankruptcy lawyer would think if he knew that if he'd only been willing to fight the battle for us, instead of taking the easy way out, he could have earned a lot more than $400.

Interview on Inside Scoop Livetag:typepad.com,2003:post-146980292006-12-16T14:41:03-05:002006-12-16T14:41:03-05:00Just a quick note to let everybody know that I recently did an interview with Gayle Campbell of Inside Scoop Live. The interview is available at my author's page, and you can listen to the it at: http://www.insidescooplive.com/author-pages/Marshall-Rob-reading-interview.html God bless,...Rob Marshall
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Just a quick note to let everybody know that I recently did an
interview with Gayle Campbell of Inside Scoop Live.&nbsp; The interview is
available at my author's page, and you can listen to the it at:</p>
<p>http://www.insidescooplive.com/author-pages/Marshall-Rob-reading-interview.html</p>
<p>God bless,</p>
<p>Rob</p></div>
Consequences - Risks and Rewardstag:typepad.com,2003:post-144260662006-12-16T13:27:00-05:002006-12-16T13:27:00-05:00In the Old Testament we read the story about the spies that went into the Promised Land. The spies were amazed at the abundance they saw in the land. It says that they cut down a single cluster of grapes that was so large it had to be carried on a pole between two of them. They returned to the children of Israel in the wilderness and said, "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit." (Num. 13:27)
The land that God wanted to give them was so beautiful and bountiful that it was beyond anything they had imagined.
But there were some problems. . . Rob Marshall

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

In the Old Testament we read the story about the spies that went into the Promised Land. The spies were amazed at the abundance they saw in the land. It says that they cut down a single cluster of grapes that was so large it had to be carried on a pole between two of them. They returned to the children of Israel in the wilderness and said, "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit." (Num. 13:27)

The land that God wanted to give them was so beautiful and bountiful that it was beyond anything they had imagined.

But there were some problems. . .

The spies told the people that the nations that lived in the land were strong and that they had fortified cities. Then they said, "There we saw the giants...; and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." (Num. 13:33)

The promise of abundance and blessings was quickly forgotten and the people wept. Rather than believing in God's promise, they believed that God was going to let them fail and that they would die if they tried to enter the Promised Land.

I find it interesting that they said, "We were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." Do you really think that they stopped and asked some of the giants, "Hey! Mister Giant, do I look like a grasshopper to you?" I doubt it.

As we pursue our dreams it's easy for us to lose sight of the promise, the benefits, that we'll receive by reaching them. The problems seem so much more real, and so much more immediate, then a far off hazy dream. We might even begin to believe that God wants us to fail and that we'll never reach our dreams.

We will face difficulties, disappointments, and even discouragement as we pursue our dreams. But there are two things we should never forget. The first is that God loves us. God doesn't want us to fail. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to trust Him and He will give us everything we need to reach our dreams. Do you really believe that?

When Jesus was teaching about prayer in Luke 11:11-13, He asks if any father would give his children the opposite of what they wanted. He tells us that if we know how to give good gifts to our children, even though we are evil, how much more will God give us what we ask for.

The second thing we should always remember is that God is the one who gave us our dreams in the first place. He wants us to reach them more than we do. He was the one who had promised the land to Israel and He was the one that was going to help them have it. God is not only able to help us overcome everything we will face along the path to our dreams, He wants to help us more than we can imagine.

When you think about reaching your dreams, are you feeling like you're a grasshopper facing a giant? Or do you believe that God gave you your dreams, wants you to succeed at them, and that He will guide your through it all.

David could have felt that he was a grasshopper when he went out to fight Goliath. But David kept his eyes and his mind focused on the result that he wanted to achieve. Rather than thinking about how small he was, that he wasn't a warrior, and that Goliath had the size and experience to destroy him, David realized that it wasn't up to him alone. God was going to enable David to overcome the problems.

We need to be realistic about the risks and the rewards of pursuing our dreams. There's nothing wrong with feeling some fear when we think about facing problems, but we should never let that fear stop us. In order to help us learn how to do that, it's a good idea to exercise our muscles. I'm not talking about our biceps or any other physical muscle. What I'm talking about is our risk taking muscle.

During the next week, and really this is a habit that we should develop and maintain for the rest of our lives, take some steps outside of our comfort zones. This isn't about quitting our jobs, or taking some other major risk, but about doing something each day that is a little uncomfortable for us. That may be starting a conversation with someone we don't know, or admitting to someone that we were wrong and asking their forgiveness.

One of the biggest hurdles you will have to overcome when going for your dreams is your own comfort zone. Start getting out of it today and make a regular habit of doing something that is uncomfortable. You will be amazed at how quickly your focus will switch from the risks you had been afraid of to the rewards you will soon be enjoying.

Challenge - Learning To Be Faithfultag:typepad.com,2003:post-144260122006-12-09T13:23:00-05:002006-12-09T13:23:00-05:00For some time now I've been struggling with my weight, and no, it's not because I'm under-weight.
Every now and then it will begin to really bother me so I'll decide that it's time to get in shape. I'll set aside an hour and work real hard and get good and sweaty. Then force myself to cut down on all that bad stuff I'm not supposed to be eating. All of this hard work and discipline usually lasts for a couple of days, maybe even a few weeks if I'm really good about it.
Rob Marshall

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

For some time now I've been struggling with my weight, and no, it's not because I'm under-weight.

Every now and then it will begin to really bother me so I'll decide that it's time to get in shape. I'll set aside an hour and work real hard and get good and sweaty. Then force myself to cut down on all that bad stuff I'm not supposed to be eating. All of this hard work and discipline usually lasts for a couple of days, maybe even a few weeks if I'm really good about it.

The problem is that I still have bad habits. It's still too easy to sit in front of the tube and mindlessly stuff myself with chips, crackers, and cookies. And it's still too hard to get up everyday and get some exercise. I soon find myself back where I started because my habits haven't changed.

When starting a self-improvement regimen it's easy to try to do too much too quickly. We want fast results and we often get discouraged if things don't change as fast as we wanted. When we don't lose those extra pounds in two days we give up and go back to hating how we look, feeling tired all the time, and wishing we could just wake up some day and be different.

The good news is: We can wake up different. Not that we will wake up tomorrow and everything in our lives will be drastically improved, but we can start forming new habits anytime we want, and over time, those new habits will change our lives.

By changing our habits we take decisive action that will help us get out of our ruts and reach our dreams.

Jim Rohn talks about the old proverb: An apple a day keeps the doctor away. He asks, "What if that were true?" If it were true, it would be something simple that we could do to improve our health. But Jim points out that it doesn't work if we eat seven apples on Sunday. It's all aboutthe things we do regularly, the habits we develop, that effect how we live each day of our lives.

Albert E.N. Gray wrote a speech entitled: "The Common Denominator of Success." In the speech he said, "The secret of success of every man who has ever been successful --- lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do." In other words, they got out of their comfort zones and formed the habit of doing the things that enabled them to consistently succeed.

When forming a new habit, like an exercise program, it's best to start off small. Spending a small amount of time consistently is better than spending a lot of time or effort on something occasionally. Once we're consistent with our small new habit we can start building on it and start doing more.

When David found himself faced with a giant named Goliath, he had already formed good habits that helped him defeat Goliath. He was able to turn what could have been a disaster into victory that helped him reach his dream. Instead of reacting to Goliath in fear, he had developed the habit of trusting God and focusing on the outcome he wanted.

How do you react when faced with a problem? Do you get discouraged when things don't go as planned? Do you give up on your dreams when difficulties arise? Think about it for a few minutes and see if you have developed the habit of quitting when the going gets tough.

Will you make a commitment right now to do what David did? When you're faced with a challenge, will you trust God and focus on the outcome you want?

We will always face difficulties when we pursue our dreams, so we need to develop the habit of trusting God.

How do we develop the habit of trusting God? It helps to develop some simple habits. The first one is the habit of being thankful.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 the apostle Paul writes, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

A simple way of starting small would be to take a piece of paper, or a 3x5 card, and in big letters write: "Thank-you" on it. Then tape it to your alarm clock. When you reach over to shut of your alarm clock let the sign remind you to say, "Thank-you" for a new day. We'll talk more about how to build on this little habit when we cover chapter nine on Celebration.